This Lord's Day (October 1, 2023) at Rainsville First Baptist Church

The Mount Rushmore of Israel’s history would include Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and maybe since the American Rushmore has four, we would add David to Israel’s historic monument.

 
As you look closely at the faces, Abraham you recognize; Isaac you understand; and David, of course. But Jacob? Yet Jacob is mentioned 349 times in the Old Testament and 19 times God is referred to as “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
 
God self-identifies Himself in that fashion to Moses in Exodus 3: 6 and Peter said he is “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” when he was preaching in Solomon’s Porch in Acts 3:13.
 
But Jacob just doesn’t seem to belong, or is that just me?  For when we look at the life of Jacob we see a person who struggles and fails seemingly more than he triumphs.  In fact, Hosea captures his life in 12: 3 and 12 as well as anyone in Scripture when he used four verbs:  struggled, fled, served, and tended.  That sums him up. 
 
And when his name is changed from Jacob to Israel in Genesis 32: 28, God says, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”
 
What did Jacob become?  The Prince of Israel.  Not the Prince of Bel-Air.  Not Prince William of England.  Not a prince in shining armor.  But the Prince of Israel.
 
Genesis 32: 28 (KJV) “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince thou hast power with God and with men…”
 
So why Jacob?  Maybe because when the flesh is weak and a person looks like an impossibility for any good, God sees another picture and makes this weak, failing person a trophy of His grace. Yes, to His grace.
 
Jacob is a story of grace.  Struggles, sin, deception, and bad choices will not stop God’s plans and purposes for you all because of His grace.
 
Someone once said if you are not preaching grace so abundant that some think you are soft on sin, then you are not most likely preaching grace rightly.  The song is right, “Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that is greater than all my sin.”
 
Romans 5: 20 (Message) “For wherever sin exists in abundance and is multiplying and constantly expanding, that is precisely the time and place where grace is poured out in a far greater, surpassing quantity.”
 
So, after concluding the life of Abraham in September 2021, we will resume our study in Genesis this Sunday as we look at “The Making of a Prince:  The Life of Jacob.”
 
This Sunday, “Where It All Began” as we look at Jacob and his twin brother, Esau’s, birth recorded in Genesis 25: 19-28.